Direct from Mr. X... It's The Hatchet Herald

What’s up Juggalos?

Mr. X here again with another super duper fresh ass Hatchet Herald to fill you’re ever growing craving for Juggalo related news. With the very first ever DARK CARNIVAL GAMES CONVENTION creeping right around the corner, I recently got a chance to sit down with the Don Mega himself Jumpsteady, and ask him a few questions about DCG CON coming up this April 21-23. So without any further ado, let's just jump right into it.

First off I’d like to say thank you for taking time out of your busy day to actually sit down with me for this interview………

Absolutely, thank you very much for having me.

DCG CON is definitely geared toward Juggalos but at the end of the day it’s still a gaming convention that includes a lot of classic games. Do you expect a lot of non-Juggalos to attend?

I think there will definitely be some, because there’s certain games like Decent, there’s a War Machine tournament, there's a bunch of role playing events. We’ve got the Battle Tech Simulator, there’s Gladiatorial Combat where people can get in the ring and battle it out. There’s Magic the Gathering tournaments, Texas Hold ‘em tournaments, pretty much all the major games that are very popular amongst gamers are represented at this event. So I feel like it will draw in certain people that are simply just curious. Plus there aren’t a whole lot of super legitimate big games cons in the Detroit area to begin with.

Plus now that we’re promoting on a street team level out and about the areas of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana and all that, I feel like it will definitely draw in certain people that are curious enough to check it out. We’re expecting about 95% of the crowd will be juggalos but I think there’s enough games that non juggalos can get into. And there’s definitely enough events that even if you’re not a gamer you can still get into it. We have games shows like Juggalo Family Feud, and also Juggalo Catch 21 which is based off of the tv show. There’s a lot of heart that was put into this, especially if you’re a juggalo gamer, this is like your paradise. But even if you’re not, with the after parties and everything else we’ve got going on, you can still come on down and have a good time you know? And we’re trying to bill it as a family event, unlike the gathering where we’re like "don’t bring children because it’s too wild". For this type of event we’re like "bring your whole family, even the kids".

We know the highly anticipated Juggalos Against Sanity is debuting at DCG CON. What other kind of freshness will be available?

So basically… We haven’t reprinted Morton’s List. But each one of the creators, Tall Jess, Nathan and I are taking games out of our personal stashes to sell at the DCG CON because we feel like this event is worthy of that. You know to basically dig into our personal stash, we each have a couple hundred games, we’re not going to sell them all but Morton’s List WILL be available for the first time in mad years. I’m not even sure how many years it’s been out of print. But you’ll be able to buy it at the con. The game itself will be like 20 bucks and we’ll also have the supplement which is "360* of the Inner Circle" for only $10.

Then besides that we have a limited line of Tom Wood/DGC CON merchandise that includes the Dark Carnival Games logo that Tom Wood basically put his magic on. All of which looks DEVISTATING and is available right now at www.hatchetgear.com but it will also be available at DCG Con.

And then of course we have the Juggalos Against Sanity game that I know mad ninjas have been waiting on since we announced it at the last Gathering. That will be available for the first time at the Con. You can also preorder it right now at www.hatchetgear.com but nothing will be shipped out until it drops first at the Con. There will also be Juggalos Against Sanity tournaments running and the game is super simple if you've never played. It's basically a version of Cards Against Humanity just juggaloed the fuck out!

What game or event are you most looking forward to personally?

For me without question it’s Into The Echoside tournaments, being somebody who plays Into The Echoside almost daily. I wish that I could just sit and compete in these tournaments, you know what I mean? Because I feel like I would have a very good chance of winning the whole thing you know? So for me, when we were at the gathering last year and we did the Into The Echoside tournament there it was super hype. Just seeing all the ninjas sitting down playing these games and just so enthusiastically trying to win and pulling out all the fresh tactics and all that. I literally sat and watched some of the games because I was helping run that event. And just watching the intensity and the strategy and tactics and just seeing everybody so into the game was just amazing to me. That event in particular is one of the things that I’m most excited about.

I know the game itself has been selling extremely well , and we actually sold out of the first batch of games that we had ordered back in early December, and we had to order another 3000 games and now they’re getting sent out to stores and all that . And this game, even to non juggalos play the game and they’re giving it props like "this is a really solid game" and they’re really excited about it. That in particular and the way the events are set up, it’s kind of interesting because there’s all these tournaments going on Friday and Saturday like Into The Echoside, Quest For Shangri-la, Texas Hold‘em, Magic The Gathering and all of that. And if you win one of these you get to play in what’s called the Masters Tournament and the only way to get into the Master Tournament which is on Sunday is if you already won one of the other tournaments. So when you’re playing in the Masters Tournament and you made it you’re like the best of the best, you know what I mean? And then those players compete for the ultimate title of World Champion. Then they get the world championship plaque, they get a custom made Dark Carnival Games jersey that isn’t available and not ever for sale, as well as some other prizes. And then also if you win one of those tournaments you win the holographic epics cards. I think it’ll be hype for people to be able to school their friends with these holographic cards like "where the fuck did you get those?" and you know its like "bitch, I won a tournament". So in my eyes these DCG CONS are where you’re going to determine who the best of the best really are.

The other thing that I’m really looking forward too is the Battle Tech Simulator. The Battle Tech simulator is this virtual reality game where you sit in these pods and close the door and you’ve got a 180 degree screen and you look out into virtual world. You have 2 hand controls, 2 foot pedals, all these buttons and stuff and you’re piloting a giant mech, you know that’s loaded up with missiles and lasers and ballistic weapons and you battle each other to the death.

Now I’ve been playing this Battle tech simulator since I was a teenager. I used to go down to Chicago every year just to play the Battle Tech Simulator. Me and my friends would take a trip down there and just spend the whole day because that’s the only place we knew it was at. So to be able to bring this to the con, its like things have come full circle. You know like back when I was a kid and I used to go down there and play and now I’m actually presenting it at my own game con. And that’s not something everybody can say they can do. And there’s no additional cost, everything is covered by you paying the cost of the ticket. The whole philosophy and very much the same as the gathering in that sense because once you purchase that 40 ticket, everything else is covered. Like the after parties, the Battle Tech Simulator, there’s a whole arcade that we’re setting up. All that stuff is all free play.

The only thing you have to pay for besides the ticket it’s self is if you want to play a role playing event, and that’s only because that includes a meal and snacks and drinks the entire time you’re playing. Plus the role playing events are in a very intimate setting, it’s only like 5 players and a GM.

We all know you have to constantly jump through hoops to lock down locations and vendors for the Gathering. Did you experience any similar bones when planning DCG Con?

You know, locally here in Detroit we have been doing business now for over 25 years now or whatever the fuck it is? So we’ve established some pretty good connections in and around Detroit, so it wasn’t as difficult. The hard part about it was finding a venue that was willing to give us a price break, you know what’s I’m saying? Because the ticket price is so low, like $40 for 3 days, and all the after parties and all the autograph signings and you know it’s going to be decked the fuck out. Like when you come in it’s going to be banners all around the walls there’s going to be pipe and drape everywhere. And you know all the tables are going to be looking all devastating, with covers on them and all that. And all that stuff is mad expensive.

So it took a while to find a spot because most people are trying to beat us up on the prices, But Gibraltar Trade Center, they realized this was our first time ever doing it and they really looked out for us, so you know I got mad love for them for that. And it’s a great spot, we’re set up right in the show space so it’s like 30, 000 square feet of space and literally every foot is covered with something. So when you look at the map and it’s pretty much wall to wall flavor. So yeah it was only difficult in the sense that trying to find a place that wasn’t trying to kills us on the price you know?

And then when you go outside of Michigan that’s when you start having problems. Because outside of Michigan all they know is the bad rep and the juggalos being labeled as a gang. And then getting a lot of doors slammed right in your face. And trying to convince everybody that everything’s going to be alright. But you know overall it did take a while to until we finally found the Gibraltar Trade Center.

And one of the cool things about the Trade Center itself is there’s like hundreds and hundreds of vendors. There’s the giant show space room and then every weekend the Gibraltar Trade Center is open and it’s a public market. And there’s just like hundreds and hundreds of venders selling shit for cheap cheap prices. I remember a few years back I was up there with my family and we found a Bruce Lee blanket and at the time it was only like $25. And we use that all the time like it’s so warm and comfortable, and it’s just like this huge King size blanket. Anyways and that’s another thing you can do there if you’re not super into games. You can come down and just check out that market and it’s just an incredible sight when you see it for the first time.

Do you expect DCG CON to become a yearly even like the Gathering and if so do you see it ever traveling outside of Michigan?

You know the DCG CON might become a yearly event. I really depends on how well this one does. You know there’s a chance because we’ve really never done anything like this before so there’s no telling how well it’s going to do.

If this event does well? I would love to do it every year. You know what I mean and make it a yearly event. It would be hard to move it because my whole vision to keep the ticket price low. And the only way to do that is to draw off my network of friends here in Detroit and those that can come in. Like I have a ton of friends that are coming in and running some of these events helping out, doing it for free. Basically because they’re gamers and they have a love for games and just so we can keep the ticket price low. So to bring it outside of Detroit would be hard because you’d have to raise ticket prices. Now you’re talking about putting people into hotels and the traveling and also finding a spot that’s not trying to gauge us for the money, or would even accept us, you know?

So my whole vision of it from the get, was what’s the lowest ticket price we could get? Like we’re not trying to make money on this at all, we’re just trying to break even. And that’s my goal. It’s just an event to give back to juggalos and show love for juggalo gamers. Like this is it, this is something we can all get into and just have a bomb ass fucking time for 3 days you know? So I’d say maybe it would move around but just to keep the price down I would say probably not.

To those ninjas that might not be into gaming, what kind of freshness can they expect?

So we have the autograph signings, we have the Psychopathic Records autograph signing where you can come through and get everybody autograph all at once. There’s the DCG CON autograph signing where you’ll have all the creators of Into The Echoside, Morton’s List, Quest For Shangri-la, and Juggalos Against Sanity.

We’ve got the after parties which run from 8 at night until 2 in the morning featuring everyone on Psychopathic Records, including the Insane Clown Posse. Plus plenty of other special guest like My Brothers Keeper, Mad V, B Skan, Ill, and Allaxulelu.

We also have the games library, where you can check out any game you want like even Uno or Chutes and Ladders. So if some of these games are above your skill level, you can go to the games library where literally there’s hundreds and hundreds of games to choose from and you can just pick out a game and play with your family. How fresh is that?

Any final thoughts or comments?

I just wanted to say that this whole event is definitely a risk for us at Psychopathic, trying something like this. But what I really love about it is how new it is and how different it is. A lot of ninjas are kinda relating it to the first gathering. How it was an indoor event and in a way it is very similar to that. You still have concerts going on at night and all these different events going on during the day. You know for the ninjas that don’t like to be outdoors camping and all that. Like this is the spot, this is their thing you know? And there’s an official DCG CON hotel that’s only 2 miles from the venue and every room there gets a special rate for like $90 a night. So if you get 4 ninjas staying with you it’ll be mad cheap you know? Every room has a jacuzzi, there’s shuttles running from 7pm to 3am from the trade center to the after party that’s held at Diesel Concert Lounge to help the people that don’t have a car.

I’ve been a gamer my whole life and this is something that has mad heart and love put into it. And also traveling around and being on tour you know and I’m constantly running into ninjas that approach me about Morton’s List, Quest For Shangri-la and Into The Echoside and just hearing about how many hours of enjoyment they’ve got from just playing those games. It’s kinda like let’s just see what this can do, and how many ninjas would love to do this? Because when we first announced this over a year ago it got a huge response. It seemed like juggalos were super excited about this, and that’s a big part of what we like to do here at psychopathic. We like to provide that flavor. Because just like anyone else we enjoy any excuse to get together with family. And the other thing is… Because the gathering is all the way on the West coast, juggalo day was down in Florida, and the march is on the extreme East coast, so I feel like DCG CON settles pretty nicely as an event for the Midwest area. What makes any event special we put on is the juggalos. It’s like these little family reunions where you just get together with all of your homies from around the United States. It’s my hope that this does extremely well and this goes on the happen every year. That’s what I’m hoping for. Because this Con that we’re creating, this is the Con that we want to see, this is the Con that I would want to be going to, you know?

Once again I’d like to thank Jumpsteady for taking a few moments out of his day to sit down and talk with me. I for one am very excited about the Dark Carnival Games Convention and I can’t wait to see all you juggalos there.